The Gateway Development Commission board on Feb. 28 awarded a key contract needed to move the broader Hudson Tunnel Project forward. It’s part of the $16 billion Gateway Program, a group of projects that will double capacity for Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor rail segment connecting New Jersey and New York City.
The board selected from a group of bidders MPA Delivery Partners, a joint venture composed of Chantilly, Virginia-based Parsons Corp., Arcadis of New York City and Mace North America Limited, a division of London-based Mace Group.
The $16 billion overall Hudson Tunnel Project entails building a new two-track rail tunnel under the Hudson River between North Jersey and Manhattan, then rehabilitating the 110-year-old tunnel that was seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The decaying tunnel poses a bottleneck for New Jersey commuters and Amtrak passengers, and President Joe Biden called the Gateway Program “one of the biggest, most consequential projects in the country.”
The JV will provide project management support, including interface risk management, cost and schedule assurance, safety and quality management and innovation and value engineering, according to the GDC. It will also support field management and safety as well as quality and compliance. Work is set to begin this month.
“The delivery partner will be the arms and legs that enable GDC to continue to move this project in high gear as we prepare for heavy construction to start,” said Alicia Glen, New York GDC commissioner and co-chair, in the release. “With more major contract awards coming down the pike this year, getting the delivery partner on board ensures we have the strongest and most agile team possible at the ready.”
The first phase of work is worth up to $26.8 million, and “specific awards for additional phases will need to be approved through our board of commissioners,” GDC spokesperson Stephen Sigmund said in an email. The contract covers six years with three three-year options to extend it, and can be recalibrated if certain projects require more resources or terminated if the performance is unsatisfactory, NorthJersey.com reported.
MPA Delivery Partners beat out two other shortlisted applicants: Bechtel and HNTB, as well as Atkins North America, Arup USA Inc. and The McKissack Group. Officials from the GDC, the State of New York, NJ Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Amtrak reviewed the proposals that the three qualified teams submitted.
Earlier in February, the GDC awarded the project’s first heavy construction contract for Hudson River Ground Stabilization to Weeks Marine of Cranford, New Jersey, clearing the way for work to begin in the river this year.
